How handwriting, lotion served drug trafficker 15 years in jail

Sometime 14 years ago, the name Scola Imbiti Namunyu came about when she was charged at Kibera Law Law Court with an offense of trafficking heroin worth Sh21 million.

Namunyu who is now 50 years old was charged as an alias Hilda Wangari Mwangi.

A businesswoman appeared before a Kibera court charged with trafficking 21,492.6 gms of heroin with an estimated market value of Sh21,492,600.

She faced a second count of refusing to permit police officers to take her fingerprints for record purposes.

Her story slowly but surely died as the country moved on to other things. She was however acquitted. This was the first time her name came to the public.

The second time, Scola was again arraigned in court in 2011 and 2012 this time over narcotics weighing 3.1 kilos and 645 grams.

 She again beat the long hand of the law.

 Her third brush with the law was again documented in Malindi Law Court where she was charged alongside two Bulgarian nationals Ivan Petrov and Milko Kostadinov over claims of trafficking gold.

Perhaps Namunyu had the proverbial nine lives with the law as again she was a free woman until June 12, 2019, when along Mombasa road, at the Buscar Booking Office she was nabbed after handing a parcel that turned out to be 20.3 grams of cocaine valued at Sh180,120.

Her case at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Court took four years and the Director of Public Prosecution called eight witnesses to testify.

 At the Buscar office, a woman showed up and handed Kelvin Kaloki a parcel that was to be sent to one Noel Mbekure. It was to be received in Malindi.

The sender was indicated as Rose Asiko.

‘Asiko’ had a veil on her head and Kaloki did not bother to check what was in the envelope until the woman was brought back by persons who identified themselves as police.

It turned out that Asiko was Scola Namunyu.

Meanwhile, opposite the bus office, near Belle Vue, Sergeant Fesial and Mutua intercepted a sleek silver Mercedes Benz KBN 675J, whose driver was Namunyu.

 They remained with her until their colleagues from Anti-Narcotics (ANU) arrived and went back to the bus office.

Feisal told JKIA Magistrate Njeri Thuku that they had gotten a tip-off from an informant about Namunyu’s dealings.

In the meantime, the officers conducted a search and found six mobile phones and the parcel was retrieved.

An analysis of the same indicated that it was 50 per cent quality cocaine.

What nailed Namunyu at last was her handwriting. A specimen of her handwriting and that in the parcel were concluded to be from the same person.

Another witness was Chief Inspector Agnes Tune. She told the court that in the car, they recovered Sh 255,000 cash, two rolls of tape and a delivery notebook.  The team then went to Buscar and thereafter to Herman Heights located in Kinoo where she lived.

 In the house, Tune told the court that they found one big scale and three small digital scales among other items.

 In the meantime, the police officers had carted away lotions when searching Namuyu’s house. Tune returned them and asked her to acknowledge receipt.

 Namunyu was the sole witness in the case. The woman said she is a freelance designer and a single mother of three.

 She narrated that on the day she was arrested, she was in Industrial Area looking for an engine. Namunyu then met with her brother Victor for lunch before she was intercepted by the police.

 She however admitted that on that day, she was in a hijab. About the weigh scales, the court heard that they were used to measure gemstones trade.

Magistrate Njeri said that based on the handwriting, it was Namunyu who presented the envelope that had the cocaine.

Namunyu was convicted and slapped with a 15-year jail term with a one million shilling fine. In case she does not pay the fine, Namunyu will have to serve an extra year in prison.

 Meanwhile, the immigration office last week deported five Nigerian nationals over alleged drugs and cybercrime links.

Olayiwola Saheed Tunde, Nwosu Prince Chukwuebuka, Ajibade Adewale, Nwanonaku Alexander Odirachukwumma and Olayiwola Babatunde Akintomwa were kicked out of the country and declared as unwanted persons.

Security agencies have also mapped Tanzania as a hot spot for drug trade as those who are deported find their way to the neighboring country and trade directly with their Kenyan counterparts.

At the same time, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations arrested Florence Wanjiku, Esther Wachira, Julius Karomo, Mohamed Juma, Stephen Igboke, Titus Abuka, Kanu Arinze, Stephen Chigoze and Vivian Odoyo in a crackdown on drugs in Nairobi.

On March 20, a 65-year-old woman was arraigned at Kahawa Law Courts. The woman claimed to be nicknamed ‘ Shos wa madre’   was nabbed at Githurai over claims of packaging heroin injectables at a retail shop called Wachamka Shop.

On the other side of town, two more women were nabbed in yet another den believed to be supplying drugs in Ongata Rongai. Among the suspects is a 63-year-old.

One of the two women has an ongoing case at JKIA court and will be mentioned on April 2.

In the meantime, the police are looking for another suspect in relation to drug supply in Mwiki. The man known by an alias ‘Cena’ is being sought in an investigation led by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).